28: I want to see your 'initiative' tonight.

The sharp screech of tires grinding against the ground echoed through the abandoned gas station.

The large bus stopped steadily beneath the rusty canopy.

Su Chen pushed open the driver's side window, and a cold wind carrying the scent of rust and rotting flesh poured in.

Dark red acid rain hammered the canopy, making a grating “pssh” sound.

The white smoke corroded by the acidic rainwater drifted like ghosts under the lights.

That Jeep belonging to Class Two?

It's probably dissolved into a puddle of pus by now, frame and all.

Su Chen tapped the steering wheel, sensing the Yang Energy flowing through his body like magma.

The Sacred Yang Divine Body, having just undergone a full group resonance, showed no signs of fatigue; instead, it became more refined after absorbing the complex energies fed back by the group of girls.

A subtle, grating friction sound came from the partition behind the cockpit.

It was the sound of toothbrush bristles frantically scrubbing a rough ceramic surface.

Su Chen stood up and slowly walked into the temporary washroom in the back section of the carriage.

In the corner, Zhao Wanting was kneeling on the leaking floor of the compartment.

Due to prolonged rejection by the Yang Energy, her complexion was a sickly grayish-blue.

She was clutching a worn-out toothbrush that was nearly bald and desperately scrubbing away the ancient mildew stains on the toilet rim.

"Not clean yet?"

Su Chen looked down at her. There was no pity in his eyes, only the cold indifference one would reserve for a scrapped piece of machinery.

Qin Ya walked over at this moment, clutching a slightly stiff, dry towel.

She looked at Zhao Wanting's hands—nails cracked and skin pale from soaking in the dirty water—and a flicker of habitual, teacher-like sympathy crossed her eyes.

"Wanting, wipe yourself off first. The rainwater is leaking through the eaves; you'll catch a cold."

"Get lost!"

Zhao Wanting swatted the towel away violently, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"Fake kindness! Qin Ya, don't think I don't know what you're all thinking! You've clung to Su Chen's thigh now, looking all glamorous, and you just want to watch me rot, don't you?"

"You're next! Once he gets tired of you, you'll be scrubbing toilets right alongside me!"

Qin Ya's outstretched hand froze mid-air, her fingertips trembling slightly.

Su Chen gave a cold laugh and reached out to wrap an arm around Qin Ya's slender waist.

The inherent warmth of the Sacred Yang Divine Body instantly transferred through the thin clothing, and Qin Ya flinched as if shocked.

But she quickly melted into Su Chen's embrace; the sense of security radiating from his core was something she couldn't refuse.

"It seems she hasn't learned how to be a quiet dog yet."

Su Chen said flatly.

Qin Ya was silent for a moment, her gaze shifting from conflicted to resolute.

She didn't look at Zhao Wanting again, instead pulling a laminated, printed sheet from her pocket and sticking it to the back of the washroom door.

It was the *Survival Code* she had just drafted according to Su Chen's instructions. The first rule was conspicuously outlined in red ink:

The Core Will is the Will of the Entire Vehicle. Violators will be stripped of their Survival Quota.

"Everyone assemble."

Su Chen's voice wasn't loud, but it possessed an undeniable penetrating power within the quiet bus.

In less than a minute, all the girls were crowded into the aisle near the cockpit.

Their complexions were much rosier than when they first set off, the lingering effect of being nourished by Yang Energy.

Su Chen spread out a satellite map salvaged from Class Two's wrecked vehicle, his fingernail drawing a heavy line across a winding mountain road.

"Fifty kilometers ahead is a Refuge Zone, but we must pass through the 'Wailing Wall Canyon'."

Su Chen scanned the room; the dark golden flicker in his pupils made many of the girls' hearts pound faster.

"That place is a High-Energy Distortion Zone. The only rule is: the stronger the Yang Energy, the weaker the monsters."

He paused, a hint of playfulness entering his tone: "Before the bus is completely locked down tonight, I need to see your initiative."

"Before sunrise tomorrow, whoever's 'Recharge' is insufficient will be left outside the bus to feed the fish."

He heavily emphasized the word "Recharge," and the atmosphere inside the carriage instantly became tense and suggestive.

Li Sisi pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose.

She was the first to step forward and was about to speak when she noticed a commotion coming from the rear.

Zhao Wanting had crawled out of the washroom at some point, clutching a half-bar of soap softened by the rainwater.

She had overheard Su Chen and Lin Mengyao's conversation in the back compartment and planned to use this last bit of "strategic supply" to curry favor with a few girls in the back who hadn't completely given up hope, in exchange for escape information.

"Got her."

Li Sisi moved swiftly, grabbing Zhao Wanting's wrist with a backhand grip.

Lin Mengyao walked over expressionlessly, grabbed Zhao Wanting by the neck, and dragged her to the back of the bus like a small chick.

"Since you love being a dog so much, why don't you taste some dog food?"

Lin Mengyao's voice was sharp as a knife.

She kicked over the slop bucket in the corner, which was used to hold leftover food scraps.

Thick, foul-smelling liquid splashed all over Zhao Wanting's head and face.

If this were before, some of the girls in the class would have stepped out to mediate.

But now, they merely watched with indifference, some even showing expressions of disgust.

The soul-shaking pleasure they experienced during the Yang Energy formation last night was still fresh in their minds.

They knew clearly that what Su Chen gave them was life itself.

And what Zhao Wanting brought them was only a burden.

"Su Chen... Su Chen, save me..."

Zhao Wanting thrashed around in the mud and slop, her voice hoarse.

Suddenly, she let out an earth-shattering shriek.

Under the weak emergency lighting, the girls watched in terror as countless tiny, golden thread-like substances drilled out of the festering burn marks on Zhao Wanting's wrist left by the Yang Energy.

That was the mark left by the Extreme Yang Sacred Body.

For an unapproved carrier, this Yang Energy was the most lethal slow-acting poison, currently consuming her peripheral nerves.

She frantically crawled toward Su Chen's bunk, only to freeze the moment she pulled back the curtain.

Su Chen was sprawled casually against the seat back, while Qin Ya knelt before him. Her calf, which was cramping from standing too long, was being massaged in Su Chen's hand.

Faint golden light circulated where their fingertips met, and every relaxation of muscle was accompanied by Qin Ya's stifled moan.

This cozy and high-level "treatment" formed a hellish contrast with Zhao Wanting's filth-covered body.

At dawn, the torrential rain still hadn't stopped.

The bus let out a low, muffled roar.

The engine sound was deeper than before, as if the machine itself had come alive.

Zhao Wanting had tied herself to the exterior bumper using a broken piece of seatbelt.

She cried out, pleading desperately in a hoarse voice.

"Take me with you! Su Chen! I'll be a toilet brush for life! A dog for life! Please... don't leave me here!"

Su Chen rolled down the window and flicked his finger emotionlessly.

A white painkiller traced an arc through the air.

Zhao Wanting eagerly opened her mouth to catch it, but the moment the pill touched the acidic mist outside the bus, it instantly turned into ash with a hiss.

"Rule number one of the Code."

All the girls stood by the windows, reciting in unison in low voices.

It was an allegiance sworn to the strong, and a burial for the weak.

The bus accelerated abruptly, leaving the abandoned gas station and that desperate scream far behind.

Straight ahead, the pitch-black entrance to the canyon looked like a giant beast opening its maw.

Along the steep rock walls on both sides, countless sticky black mists slowly oozed out of the cracks.

And deep within that mist, hundreds of blood-red compound eyes slowly opened, one after another, having sensed the vehicle brimming with "Yang Energy."